PHOENIX – Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes released the official canvass and results of the Congressional District 8 Special Primary Election that took place on February 27, and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors approved the results last week at its meeting.

"Thanks to the collaboration with the Maricopa Board of Supervisors and the Arizona Secretary of State, we were able to ensure the voters of Congressional District 8 had an accurate, accessible, efficient election,” Fontes said.

The report identified the winning candidates and showed that overall turnout was 25.6 percent, with the vast majority of people voting early. There were just more than 108,000 early ballots, compared to nearly 8,500 ballots cast on election day.
“There were challenges that we are learning from but overall this was a successful undertaking, especially considering the shortened timeline that a special election presents," he said.

Maricopa County Elections Director Rey Valenzuela added that most voters experienced negligible wait times at voting locations and the county’s new check-in system contributed to a decrease in the number of provisional ballots cast.

"That was not the case in this election," Valenzuela said. "Wait times were reduced dramatically and we got great feedback from the public on the new Site Book check-in system."

There were only 531 provisional ballots, 447 of which were verified and counted. Provisional ballots, which require additional, labor-intensive steps to validate and process, have bogged down the county’s elections, creating longer lines at the polls and delaying results.

State law requires the canvass of election returns within 15 days of the election. State law also created a compressed timeline to plan and hold the election after Congressman Trent Franks resigned. The general election is scheduled for April 24.

Voters can find out more information about their eligibility to vote in this election and maps of Congressional District 8 at Maricopa.vote. A copy of the official canvas report can be found here. Official election results are available here.